Millbury selectman leads statewide casino repeal campaign

Wednesday

Aug 21, 2013 at 6:00 AMAug 21, 2013 at 1:56 PM

By Susan Spencer, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

MILLBURY — The selectman who cast the sole dissenting vote July 23 when the board approved a host community agreement with proposed slots parlor developer Mass Gaming & Entertainment will be signature campaign director for a statewide effort to repeal the 2011 expanded gaming law.

Brian M. Ashmankas, 26, who is serving his second term on the Board of Selectmen, will work full time with Repeal the Casino Deal, a statewide coalition of public health, municipal, family and religious leaders, among others, to get an initiative on the ballot next year to repeal the state law that allows for casino gambling. According to a news release Tuesday, 68,911 certified signatures of registered voters need to be collected by hand by Nov. 20.

"It's a big hurdle but I think it's very doable," Mr. Ashmankas said. "It's just like any campaign but on a larger level."

Mr. Ashmankas said he was approached by casino opponents to get involved statewide after an "As I See It" opinion column, "Slots would be net loss for Millbury," was published Aug. 7 in the Telegram & Gazette.

"If I don't want to see it in Millbury," he said, "I don't want the negative effects on anybody."

He added: "It's a very bipartisan issue. You have left and right working together."

Mr. Ashmankas said government-licensed casinos exploit people, bringing crime and other negative social and economic impacts to communities, which is the opposite of what he said government should be doing.

"It does harm. Casinos are designed to take your money away from you," he said. "In the end you go away with nothing."

Repeal the Casino Deal Chairman John F. Ribeiro of Winthrop said Mr. Ashmankas brought the skills needed for the position, and his Millbury base demonstrated the group's statewide commitment.

"Being a linchpin in the center of the state makes all the differences in the world," Mr. Ribeiro said in an interview.

Mr. Ashmankas graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and earned his master's degree in political science from Boston College. He has been a substitute teacher in Millbury and Grafton schools.

The ballot initiative language is expected to be certified by the state attorney general's office by Sept. 4, Mr. Ribeiro said. Then the secretary of state has two weeks to deliver the petitions to Repeal the Casino Deal organizers to start collecting signatures.

Initial signers of the petition filed with the attorney general include Mark Gottleib, executive director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University Law School, and Steven P. Abdow, diocesan administrator and finance officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Regionally, Geri Eddins, a spokeswoman for Casino-Free Milford, is a signatory.

Repeal the Casino Deal will work with faith, public health and other groups to get signatures, but Mr. Ribeiro said, "Our core will be people in impacted communities, especially surrounding communities who have no say. This is a way for impacted folks to have a vote."

Meanwhile, in Tewksbury, a special town meeting Tuesday night voted 1,568-995 against a measure that would have allowed Penn National Gaming to build a 24-hour slots parlor on land now zoned for commercial/research use.

Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanSpencerTG